We encourage followers to publish comments and share their thoughts on the Facebook and Twitter pages as they relate to the topic being discussed. We review and post comments according to the policy below. The views expressed in comments reflect those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the West Coast Regional Office, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, or the federal government.

We want to publish comments, but we expect comments to be courteous. To that end, NOAA Fisheries West Coast established the following policy in regard to the posting of comments, and we reserve the discretion not to post comments that are inconsistent with our policy.

Promote or endorse services or products (note that non-commercial links that are relevant to the topic or another comment are acceptable).

Copyrighted and other proprietary material should not be posted or submitted in any form unless permission to do so is clearly indicated. In posting his or her own comments or other work, a commenter grants NOAA Fisheries West Coast and anyone viewing the Northwest Regional Office, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, and Southwest Fisheries Science Center websites irrevocable permission to copy, distribute, make derivatives, display or perform the commenter's work publicly and free-of-charge.

Reporters are asked to send questions to the public affairs offices through their normal channels rather than by submitting questions here as comments. It is our policy not to post reporter questions.

We recognize that the internet is a medium unbound by regular business hours and your comments are welcome at any time. However, given the need to manage Federal resources, reviewing and posting of comments will generally occur during regular business hours Monday through Friday. Comments submitted at other times will be reviewed and posted as soon as possible the next business day.

In some cases we ask you to provide your name and e-mail address, although providing either is optional. We request your name to make it easier to carry on a conversation. For this reason, we publish your name along with your comment. We ask for your e-mail address so that we can contact you if necessary. It is our policy not to publish your e-mail address.

To protect your privacy, please do not include information (e.g., an e-mail address or phone number) in the text of your comment that identifies you.

Additional guidance as to how NOAA regards privacy issues can be found within the NOAA Privacy Policy.

Thank you for taking the time to read this comment policy. We encourage your participation in our discussion and look forward to an active exchange of ideas.